PESHAWAR:
Dancing to the drumbeats on different roads and squares of the city late Wednesday evening, jubilant young men celebrated the renaming of NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Spontaneous celebrations broke out all over Peshawar and in every town and city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Workers and supporters of the ruling ANP led the celebrations as drummers were hurriedly summoned and impromptu scenes of dancing and distribution of sweets were witnessed at scores of places. Many party workers wore the distinctive red caps of the ANP.The happy youth, most of them students, termed the renaming of the province as big achievement, saying that it was a longstanding demand of the people of the province. The drum beating and dancing began soon after the news about Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa appeared on different TV channels. The celebrations continued late night and some excited people fired in the air to show their happiness.A group of cheering youth gathered outside The News/Geo TV office at Khyber Super Market on Bara Road to celebrate the occasion. It gradually turned into a traditional dance party and attracted dozens of people.
Irrespective of their party affiliation, many people joined the celebrations. They were happy over the name Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. However, some of them suggested a one-word name like Pakhtunkhwa or Afghania. “We have got our identity and historical name for our province. However, it would have been more better if the name was Pakhtunkhwa or Pakhtunistan,” said Qaisar Hussain, student of local college while enjoying the dance and drum beating.
“We were watching TV channels in our rooms but soon we heard the drum beating. We left our flats and preferred to enjoy this historical moment,” another young man Shah Mehmood told this scribe. He said that he had no affiliation with any political party but like other Pakhtuns he was happy to have a proper name of the province.
Slogans like ‘Long live Pakhtunkhwa’ and ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ mingled in the air amid drum beating.
The activists of the Awami National Party also gathered in historic Chowk Yadgar to celebrate the moment. “It is a dream come true for the entire Pakhtun nation,” said a young Pakhtun nationalist.Reports reaching here from different parts of the province stated that the renaming of the province as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was celebrated till late night. In Charsadda, the hometown of the ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, jubilant workers of Awami National Party (ANP) took to the streets and distributed sweets when the electronic media reported that the committee on Constitutional Reforms had agreed to rename NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The activists of ANP took out a procession to celebrate renaming of the NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They danced to the drumbeat and fired in the air in jubilation. In a telephonic conversation with wedia, Begum Nasim Wali, former provincial president of the party, said Abaseen and Khyber were also suitable names for the NWFP but she preferred Pakhtunkhwa as it had also been mentioned by Bacha Khan and Wali Khan.In Mardan, a procession was brought out on the Bank Road to celebrate the renaming of NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa. Celebrations were also reported from Karak, Bannu, Dir Lower, Buner, Swabi, Nowshera, Kohat and all other districts of the province.
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